Multiple independent gene transfers gave fungi ability to colonize plant roots. A single gene from bacteria has been donated to fungi on at least 15 occasions. The discovery shows that an evolutionary shortcut once thought to be restricted to bacteria is surprisingly common in more complex, eukaryotic life. Bacteria frequently trade genes back and forth […]
genetics
Pests worm their way into genetically modified maize
Broadening of rootworm resistance to toxins highlights the importance of crop rotation. Even with biotech crops, farmers still need to make use of age-old practices such as crop rotation to fight insect pests. That’s the lesson to be drawn from the latest discovery of resistance to the pest-fighting toxins added to maize — also known […]
New contender for ‘fat gene’ found
Researchers may have been focusing on the wrong gene. Scientists studying what they thought was a ‘fat gene’ seem to have been looking in the wrong place, according to research published today in Nature. It suggests instead that the real culprit is another gene that the suspected obesity gene interacts with. In 2007, several genome studies […]
Drug could stop PTSD before it starts
Researchers investigating the genetic basis of post traumatic stress disorder have found a drug that could stop the condition from developing if given shortly after a traumatic experience. Read more in CMAJ.
The single life
Sequencing DNA from individual cells is changing the way that researchers think of humans as a whole. All Nicholas Navin needed was one cell — the issue was how to get it. It was 2010, and the postdoctoral fellow at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York was exploring the genetic changes that drive breast […]